


I’m Holding My Heart and It’s Overgrown

by comicfanperson



Series: JNPR and friends [8]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Cuddles, Gen, Heavy Angst, Intense, Multi, Polyamorous Jaune Arc/Lie Ren/Pyrrha Nikos/Nora Valkyrie, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22922398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicfanperson/pseuds/comicfanperson
Summary: Team JNPR is stressed about their youngest member, until one day it all comes to a head. Nora deals with everything the best way she can.(Nora explains her emotions regarding her life events, Oscar finally tells them the story behind his bandages, and Team JNPR is very much protective of each other.)
Relationships: Jaune Arc & Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc & Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc & Pyrrha Nikos & Oscar Pine & Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc/Lie Ren/Pyrrha Nikos/Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Oscar Pine & Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos & Nora Valkyrie
Series: JNPR and friends [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1632898
Comments: 17
Kudos: 103





	I’m Holding My Heart and It’s Overgrown

**Author's Note:**

> I received a request on Tumblr from an anon- "So! I just wanted to start off by saying that I LOVE your series on AO3 with the JNPR+Oscar bonding! I saw that you said you were taking requests, and I was wondering if I could request Oscar telling JNPR about his scar under the bandages? You don’t have to, though!"
> 
> It kind of morphed into its own thing completely, but I still hope u like it, anon <3 Thank you for prompting and thank you for your support!!
> 
> I am NO LONGER accepting requests! I received one over the weekend that i will fill, but that will be the last for the foreseeable future. dw!! its only bc there are,,,,, some o t h e r things i would like to work on for this series :333
> 
> be expecting one that is exceptionally long in abt two-ish weeks??? 
> 
> also, yes, this is 3.5k. AND it is only bc God has blessed m with the world's most perfect beta :,) @albion-93 (tumblr)/Albion_93(Ao3) is amazing, and has really improved the quality of this fic, and im so excited to see what else will be made twenty times better bc of them!!! Thank you so so much for all of your help, dear!

Nora had had a tough life. Since the beginning it had seemed like she was doomed to live a life of struggle and strife. But when she met Ren, from that point forward she didn’t care how much her life sucked, because having him there made everything better. For the longest time it was the two of them, plagued by nightmares and pain and terror at every corner, but it didn’t matter as long as she had Ren. 

When they were teamed up with Jaune and Pyrrha, they were… apprehensive, at best, but Nora was always positive and willing to believe the best in people. It was the right move, Jaune and Pyrrha completely turned their lives around. They were just so different from what the pair was used to, it opened up their world and showed them things they could only dream of. Long nights laying awake in silence were replaced with cuddles, pancakes, and quiet conversation. Dangerous battles against Grimm became trust exercises and thrilling adventures. They went to see new movies together, and out to dinner and bowling and roller skating. Their training wasn’t something she dreaded, but something she could look forward to. They finally felt complete.

After the Fall of Beacon, Nora thought it was all over, that the new life they’d built for themselves was just a really, really nice dream. Every morning felt grey and hopeless, every evening was sore and full of longing, and every time she looked at the moon she could only remember staring at it after they were told Pyrrha had… had died. She spent every moment with her eyes on her team, terrified that Ren or Jaune or Ruby would be stolen from her, too. 

As time went on, the pain and mourning lessened, never quite going away but being something she could manage. Jaune only got worse, though. She could see it in how he fought, reckless and without care for his own well-being. Jaune wanted to die. That only made her fight harder to be the optimist, to spread hope and love, so that her team knew that they were loved. Even Ruby had her awful days, and that  _ hurt  _ Nora because this wasn’t how this life was supposed to go.

When they finally got to Mistral, things began to look up again. When Qrow brought back Oscar something inside her roared and burned with a new sense of purpose. Here was this child, someone who had never volunteered to get mixed up in this, forced to do the bidding of the Gods. It made her furious, it made her want to protect him so that she never had to watch the light burn out in yet  _ another  _ person. And yet, he kept going, he kept training and improving his combat skills. He was braver than any of them could have believed. She was so proud of him. Nora reached out to him every moment she could, and stuck by his side when it seemed he was getting too tired to keep going. She promised herself she would protect Oscar and show him he didn’t have to be scared.

Atlas was her personal hell.

Atlas broke something inside her, something that hadn’t died even when they lost Pyrrha. She saw it happen in Jaune and Ren, too. They were so quiet on that airship out of Atlas, on the way to something that should’ve been exciting. But did it matter? Team JNR had failed again, she wondered if they would ever be whole, she wondered if they were doomed to a cycle of pain and failure. 

Ren had been so certain that Oscar was still alive she thought maybe he’d been broken. That he’d gone… crazy. She didn’t know what to say to him for the first time in years, maybe because she so badly wanted Ren to be right, or maybe because she had snapped too and couldn’t accept he might be wrong. She  _ hated _ not knowing what had truly become of him, second guessing herself and the others every day.

Jaune completely closed off from all of them, not even Weiss could say anything helpful. And at night, when they were supposed to be sleeping? Jaune cried, he sobbed when he thought no one could hear. Nora had shattered completely the first time she heard him cry like that, and it was no less painful every time following it. 

Team RWBY gave them space, but Qrow would give them these… these  _ looks _ that squashed out the last of her inner flame. 

Nora knew pain and sadness like nobody else. She knew loss and fear and vulnerability  _ intimately,  _ and for so long that was her advantage. 

After Beacon it was her downfall. 

She would never,  _ ever _ forget that transmission from Robyn Hill, nine days after they had dropped her back off with the Happy Huntresses. 

_ “The kid is alive, but barely. We’ll do what we can but you have to come back ASAP.” _

They had been hiding on a mountain just far enough from Atlas to regroup how they could, but now they didn’t care about stealth. All they cared about was getting him back as quickly as they could. When she saw him again, he was pale and sickly and slightly delirious and it took a great deal of willpower for her  _ not  _ to wrap him in her famous tackle-hug. But she and Ruby never left his side as they took him to the nearest medical facility.

The reunion brought back something within her she didn’t think  _ could  _ be. The way Oscar allowed himself to be hugged and coddled and held was terrifying because he’d been so independent since the first day she met him. 

Everything seemed  _ bearable  _ now. Every ounce of pain sucked out of her, every broken bit of her heart carefully put back in its place. Her light tried to reignite, and it brought back the hope within her.

Then they found Pyrrha. Stuck in Salem’s hellworld, but  _ alive.  _ They blamed themselves for weeks. They should’ve known. They never should’ve given up on her. Nora couldn’t remember ever crying so hard in her life. 

After everything was over, Nora realized she was back to that sweet, sweet fantasy. Movie nights in the living room of their new home in Patch, training together every morning, cooking together and eating together and sleeping together and  _ being together.  _ Warmth and love and family wrapped itself around her and her team and they began to heal. 

This journey, this finding and holding and loving is all she could think about as she fought against a rather large group of Grimm just at the bay across from Patch. It was more of a struggle than she was used to, there were quite a few very, very large Grimm and they were the only huntsmen that took this particular mission. When she had looked around, to see what their next move would be, a Beowolf jumped out of nowhere at Oscar.

The thing had its ugly paw outreached to slice at him, and the teen hadn’t even seen it coming. It’s claws scraped right against his chest, and Nora screamed, high and fearful and angry. She saw Oscar’s aura deflect the worst of the blow, but it obviously knocked the wind out of him since the attack threw him across the clearing. 

She killed the thing before she even realized she’d moved to attack it. Nora stood there, breathing heavily and eyes scanning for more Grimm while at the same time trying to find Oscar. 

She spotted a figure pretty far off, running with a limp and a tattered coat, and suddenly it hit her that that was Oscar. Nora ran after him, much faster than he was currently going, she zipped through the trees without care for anything but getting to her teammate. 

It took a moment to register that she couldn’t see him anymore, so she stood still where she was, closed her eyes tight, and  _ listened.  _ She managed to pick out the sounds of quiet crying, a few yards behind her, meaning she had gone too far and that Oscar had finally quit running. Nora whipped around, staying as silent as she could as to not startle him into running again. Eventually she managed to find him, leaning against a tree, legs pulled against his chest, downright sobbing into his knees.

She crouched down a few feet in front of him, and reached out her hand and placed it gently on his shoulder.

“Oscar?” she said softly, he jumped a bit, head snapping up and tearful eyes just staring at her. “It’s okay, it’s just me,” she reassured him. He suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her into a tightly-clenched hug, clinging to her shoulders and burying his face against her neck and began to cry softly. 

Nora wrapped her arms around him and rocked him a bit from where she was crouched down on her feet. She held him, fighting back tears of her own, shushing him and just letting him know that she was  _ here,  _ she was here for him

Suddenly, she heard the sound of faint panting and leaves and twigs cracking underfoot; someone was coming.

“There you are,” came Ren’s relieved sigh as he ran into view, “Are you two alright?”

Nora frowned when Oscar managed to grip her even tighter. Ren looked at her quizzically, looking increasingly concerned at Oscar’s state. 

“I-I don’t know, he just grabbed me and he hasn’t said  _ anything _ ,” said Nora, her voice wavering.

Ren sat down next to his teammates and rested a hand on Oscar’s back, “Oscar…?”

He lifted his head, still crying and red-faced, to look at Ren and Nora, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-“

“It's okay,” Nora interrupted, “What happened? Are you hurt?”

His head hung in shame. He looked up at both of them, starting to quiver as he hugged himself protectively, as if he was scared of them. That  _ hurt  _ Nora, she hated it so much and just wanted him to know he was safe with them, no matter what.

“I… I couldn’t see you guys, I just thought- thought that you were  _ gone,  _ and then that thing attacked me and I was just stuck reliving  _ it  _ all over again-“

“Slow down,” Ren said, wrapping his hands around Oscar’s shoulders, “Take a deep breath. You don’t have to talk about it right now, okay? We’ll take care of it at home.”

Jaune and Pyrrha suddenly burst through the trees, both of them driven by the adrenaline of battle and eyes wide and alert for danger, until they spotted the rest of their team.

“Oh, thank the Brothers we found you!” Jaune exclaimed, shoulders sagging in relief.

“Why are you all the way over here?” Pyrrha asked them, kneeling down beside Nora while Jaune moved to stand on the other side of Ren. They both looked at Oscar, Jaune’s brow furrowed in confusion while Pyrrha placed her hand on his forehead comfortingly, trying to figure out what was wrong.

“He was attacked,” Nora murmured, “I chased him all the way over here, but... I think we should just go home now.”

“It’s for the best,” Ren agreed solemnly. Oscar watched with wide eyes as they all stood up, and then just stared dumbly at Jaune’s hand when he reached out to help pull the teen to his feet.

“Can you walk?” Jaune asked worriedly when he still didn’t take it after a moment.

“Y-Yeah, sorry,” Oscar replied in a numb voice, finally allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.

The other four shared equally anxious looks with each other, but allowed the teen some time to gather himself. Nora and Pyrrha guided him towards the boat they’d come in on, having him walk between the two of them. Jaune and Ren took the lead, walking only a couple feet in front of them.

It felt like it took forever, but JNPR managed to get back to the boat. The ride was virtually silent, and Nora couldn’t really wrap her mind around everything that had just happened. The events played around and around in her head on loop, and made her feel so frustrated that she couldn’t quite figure out what had happened with their youngest member. She shoved out the feelings of failure and fear, and did her best to stay in the moment on the boat ride with her companions.

It took maybe half an hour, filled with an awkward, fearful silence, but they finally made it back to their home. As soon as the front door was closed, though, the tension broke.

“So, um...did you get hurt back there?” Jaune asked Oscar, making sure the young teen was looking him in the eye when he did. 

“No,” Oscar answered softly, having trouble keeping eye contact, “I’m just… gonna go take a shower…”

Nora watched him go, then when she was sure he was out of earshot she sat down clumsily at the kitchen table and pressed her face into her hands.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” she groaned.

“What  _ did  _ happen?” Ren asked.

“I don’t know! That Beowolf just came out of nowhere-“

“Wait, but we fight those all the time,” Pyrrha pointed out, “That shouldn’t be cause for such panic. It really seemed as though he was traumatised...”

“We have to get him to talk to us,” Jaune said, leaning against the counter and massaging his temples. “There’s so much we just let slip by because we’re too scared of him completely shutting us out that we don’t bring it up ever again!”

“Except we still need to respect his boundaries,” Ren argued, “We have to trust he will talk to us when he’s ready.”

“Ren, he’s struggling! He needs to talk with someone other than the old man in his head about his issues,” Pyrrha said, sounding just as anxious as Nora felt.

“Guys, Ren is right though,” Nora sighed, “If he doesn’t feel comfortable talking about it with us that’s  _ our  _ fault, we have to do something about it but-“

A loud crash from upstairs echoed through the house.

Nora’s heart thundered in her chest as every possibility of what may have happened raced through her head. Jaune went pale with fear, and Ren stared at the ceiling where the bathroom stood above them.

The four stood stock still for just a moment, and then Pyrrha bolted to the stairs with the others following suit.

“ _ OSCAR?!”  _ She screamed, running as quick as she could, the booming sound of her feet hitting the stairs matching every throb in Nora’s chest.

“Oh Gods, oh Gods, Oh Gods-” Jaune muttered under his breath, and she couldn’t help but to relate. 

Pyrrha beat her fist twice on the bathroom door, and then it bust open, the lock breaking and the door essentially coming off its hinges, but they were in and that was all that mattered to Nora-

They saw him curled up on the bathroom floor, wedged in the space between the tub and the sink. He was shaking violently, the only items of clothing missing were his boots, coat, belts, and-

_ The bandages.  _

Nora, Ren, and Jaune all knew what was under there-  _ scars, ugly and lumpy and jagged and never properly healed-  _ but they never talked about it with him. They were too scared of overstepping at the time, but the way Oscar had his hands pressed against them as he took short and uneven breaths made Nora think that was a mistake. 

Pyrrha seemed frozen where she stood in the doorway, and Nora easily slipped past her lovers to crouch down in front of Oscar for the second time that day. 

She pulled his hands away from his neck and held them in her own.

“Look at me,” she demanded, and he did. He looked at her, all scared and uncertain and anxious and panicked, and all Nora could do was hold his hands. 

“It’s going to be okay, but right now you have to take deep breaths for me,” she instructed, “In and out, Oscar, c’mon,”

He only seemed to get worse though, he was so pale and his pupils were dilated and Nora just knew he was on the verge of passing out. 

Nora put Oscar’s hand on her chest, just above her heart. “Breathe with me,” she said simply. She took slow and purposeful breaths, in through her nose for five, out through her mouth for eight, and she saw Oscar begin to do the same. They did this together for nearly a minute, just sitting together and breathing together.

The color returned to his face, his head drooped, and he leaned back against the wall, suddenly relaxed and soft. They all stayed in silence for a few more moments, before Jaune finally spoke up.

“What just happened?”

Oscar let out a soft sob, “I didn’t mean to, I promise-”

Nora made a wounded sound, and pulled him against her chest so she could hold him, “You’re okay, Oscar.”

“Could you explain it, though?” Ren asked softly.

“I… I took off the bandages, right where it hit me, and I thought- thought I was bleeding and-” he lowered his head and mumbled out the rest of his sentence.

The other four shared a confused look.

“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha said sternly, “ could you say that again?”

“I panicked!” he shouted, his head snapped up and it was a little too loud but everything clicked into place for Nora. “I just… panicked. Okay?”

“How long ago was it?” Nora asked him, lips pursed in worry.

“...I was really little. M-My aunt,” and he took a deep gulp of air when he said that, “My aunt said that I was five.”

Nora heard Ren let out a pained little  _ “Oh.” _

It finally clicked for him, too. 

“Is that what happened today?” she asked him.

He nodded shakily, “K-Kind of? I was looking around for all of you- I couldn’t find you- I started to get scared, but when that Grimm just attacked me out of thin air? It was like that day was happening all over again, my family dead and being alone and no one there to help me and I was just so scared. I was- I was  _ terrified.”  _

She stroked her fingers through his hair. “You’re safe now, we’re okay, it’s all okay,” she soothed. 

Ren fell to the floor beside them, and wrapped them up in his arms, she could practically  _ feel  _ his teeth clenched tight in anger, “She’s right. We won’t let anything happen to you, or each other.”

Jaun and Pyrrha were both shocked into silence. When Nora looked up at them, Jaune was standing awkwardly in the doorway, while Pyrrha was pressed against the sink, her arm braced against it with her eyes wide.

“I- I had no idea,” Pyrrha whispered, absolutely horrified. She knew that Oscar had lost his parents at a young age, but like  _ that?  _

Oscar sobbed softly, “I didn’t  _ want  _ you to. I thought I could deal with it myself, that I didn’t need help, but I was wrong, I was so wrong-”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Jaune said, coming closer to the group huddled on the floor, “What matters is that you told us, that we earned your trust enough for you to feel safe telling us. We’re here for you, bud, no matter what.”

They let Oscar sob against Nora and Ren for a few more moments, before they realized they’d be so much better off in the big bed. Nora gathered Oscar into her arms, and carried him down the hall, following the others. 

The door to their room swung open, the golden evening light filtering through the window and giving the room such an inviting feel that Nora felt every ounce of her being simply glow. She gently adjusted Oscar against her hip, and watched her lovers climb into the half-made bed. 

Nora shushed Oscar as his body-wracking sobs finally began to dissipate. She set him down next to Jaune, who just held Oscar close to his side and allowed the teen to curl up and hide himself from the world. Ren sat on the other side of Jaune, while Pyrrha situated herself so her chin was rested against Ren’s shoulder, watchful as ever. Nora sighed in a pleased kind of way, and crawled in next Oscar, completely curled protectively around him so he felt sheltered from everything that could hurt him. 

Nora Valkyrie knew pain, sadness, mourning, death, fear and loneliness in ways some people would never understand. She knew those in ways she hoped no one else would ever  _ have  _ to understand. But here, safe and comforted and loved with her family, with those who protected her and she protected just as fiercely, she knew that none of it mattered, because they were  _ together. _


End file.
